Former East E-Rab standout dies in South Carolina

Tuesday

Pete Anderson, the quiet backbone of the 1947-48 East E-Rab basketball team that finished second in the state, died at the age of 80 in mid-February in South Carolina.

Pete Anderson, the quiet backbone of the 1947-48 East E-Rab basketball team that finished second in the state, died at the age of 80 in mid-February in South Carolina.

“Pete wasn’t a rah-rah guy. He was a worker,” said George Sheatz, a teammate on that 1948 team who is retired and lives in Arizona. “We had a couple of good shooters, and Pete was the guy in the middle who shut everyone down.”

In 1947-48, East and Rockford West tied for second in the Big Eight behind Aurora West at 7-3, but the E-Rabs got on a roll in the playoffs. East beat West to win its regional, knocked off Sterling and Freeport to advance to the state tournament for the fourth straight year, and then edged Champaign, Chicago Marshall and LaGrange to make it to the championship game.

There, Pinkneyville crushed East, 65-39, completing the E-Rabs’ 26-4 season. It remains the best finish by East in a boys basketball tournament. The E-Rabs took fourth in 1946 and in Class 2A in 1978.

Anderson was more than a defensive stopper. He led all scorers at state with 58 points over four games, and he and teammate Gene Tarabilda were named second team all-tournament.

Anderson also was one of two local players named to all-state teams in 1948. He was on the Chicago Daily News’ second team and the Champaign News Gazette’s fourth team, and West’s Ab Nicholas was on the Daily News’ third team and Champaign’s second team.

Rivals in high school, Anderson joined Nicholas and another Rockford West player — Ed Carpenter — at the University of Wisconsin. While Nicholas became one of the best players in Badgers history — he was the school’s second leading scorer all-time when he graduated — Anderson and Carpenter were solid role players. Anderson scored 166 points in 36 games over the 1950-1951 and 1951-1952 seasons, while Carpenter chipped in 88 points in 22 games.

Nicholas said the three Rockford imports joined the same fraternity, and later all three built their careers in the investment industry and talked three to four times a year. Nicholas lives in the Milwaukee area and Carpenter in the Chicago area.

“I talked to Pete maybe a month ago,” Nicholas said. “He hasn’t been in good health the past five years or so. This wasn’t a complete shock.

“The three of us remained very, very good friends. East beat West in the regionals in 1948 and that would come up on occasion. It was a sore point for Ed and I.”

Anderson, who died on Feb. 14, graduated from Wisconsin in 1952 and later received a Masters in Business Administration from there in 1955. He also served in the Army. He retired as a certified financial analyst. He is survived by wife, Emmy, of Charleston, S.C., one daughter and one grandson.

Assistant Business Editor Alex Gary may be reached at agary@rrstar.com or at 815-987-1339.

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